You don’t want to wash your dish? You don’t want to eat some dinner? You don’t want to come with me to get some clementines? You don’t want to make banana
bread? You don’t want to bring me
back meat from the store? You
don’t want to clean your yard right now? You don’t want a seventh piece of
fried meat?
These are just some examples of questions I get asked on the
regular. Paraguayans are
veryyyyyyyyy indirect. It’s
complicated. As I described in my
exercise post Paraguayans hate saying no and will agree to anything in the
moment and when the time comes not actually go which makes planning hard. But being indirect makes things hard to
follow and understand in English, nevermind in a second or third language.
They always ask you if you don’t want to do something which
translates into can you do this?
Very confusing. In the
beginning I would answer it literally based on whether I wanted to or not.
You don’t want to eat dinner right now? (Translation: We’re
eating dinner now)
No thanks, maybe later.
You don’t want to walk 2 kilometers to get clementines?
(Translation: I need help carrying the clementines)
No thanks, I’m tired.
So there were definitely some awkward moments cuz I just
didn’t understand their indirectness.
And it definitely makes things complicated in terms of asking for things
I need. For instance, I need a
shelving unit in my house to put my clothes on. Some might call that a dresser. And I knew that my neighbors husband was a carpenter but I
had to give her an out and be indirect about asking.
Me: Hi! Do you
know a carpenter that doesn’t charge a lot? (aka your husband?)
Señora: What do you want made? (figuring out if her husband wants
to do it or not)
Me: A few
shelves to put my clothes on.
Something cheap with space.
Señora: Okay, you
don’t want to pay a little more for something prettier?
Me: Maybe???
And that is the life.
A whole bunch of confusion and indirectness. In a language I don’t entirely understand. Ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment